THE BROADCASTING arm of the British Media – regardless of the BBC's efforts to disperse much of the serious, reality side of their business to Salford – is London-based. If you want to be considered a serious player, you have to gravitate to the capital. Basically, we don't have a British Media, we have an English one – whether what used to be called “Fleet Street” or broadcasting-based.
So, when it comes to the biggest stages in football – World Cups, European Championships etc, our broadcasters are always happiest and more at ease once the Celtic Fringe nations, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales go out, and they can get down to what is their core purpose – being England's cheer leaders.
This facet of their learned behaviour, however, always offers we Scots in particular, great scope for entertainment, when, as so-often happens, England stumble rather than cruise past inferior foreign Johnnies in the manner which their media cheer-leaders demand of their “Lions”.
These ongoing Euros have been a Godsend to those many Scots among us who relish games in which English performances on the park fail to come close to meeting the expectations of their media. At various times, watchig England games on television, I have feared for the mental health of the likes of Alan Shearer, Ian Wright and Lee Dixon, as England huffed and puffed to little avail and their frustrations surfaced.
I have also marvelled at the self-control of the likes of Ally McCoist, fighting manfully to not laugh at the hurt being endured by fellow commentators and pundits, as they were being subjected to reverse Shakespearianism – forced to bury rather than praise the men in white.
I like and admire Gareth Southgate, he had to endure the torment of, as an England player, missing the crucial penalty in a shoot-out. His credentials as a manager and coach have frequently been questioned by the English media, suffering the usual negative headlines in the process.
His is the impossible job, he has to work within the reality of English football, yet meet the unreal expectations of their lumpen fans and equally lumpen media.
This he does with dignity and good sense. He may have his limitations as a manager/coach, but I doubt if anyone could have worked harder and more-diligently for English success than has Southgate.
Sir Alf Ramsey is the England Manager against whom all others are measured – as the only manager ever to bring the World Cup to the country.
Consider this, the England squad which Ramsey led contained five players who were in the conversation for a place in any selection of a world's best XI players: goalkeeper Gordon Banks, full-back Ray Wilson, central defender Bobby Moore, midfielder Bobby Charlton and striker Jimmy Greaves.
That cannot be said about any members of the squad Southgate has at his disposal in Germany. Indeed, it could be argued that not a single membere of the current England squad would get into a neutrally-selected XI representing the best players in the top-flight English Premiership.
With so-many top English sides being owned by non-English people, there is little or no influence on club owners to promote home-grown talent. Yes, the big English clubs all have Academies, but, very few players come through these Academies to emerge into the First Team. The club owners's first instinct around team building is to buy-in a new player, and not necessarily an English one.
The theme to the film: The Great Escape has become a familiar one to England fans, and it was playing again on Sunday, as Jude Bellingham, the Great Hope of English Football, with less than 90 seconds on the clock, rescued a draw against Slovakia, before, in extra time, skipper Harry Kane clinched their place in the quarter-finals.
The heat will be back on England in this last eight match. They will probably start as favourites against Switzerland, but, the Swiss have already eliminated defending champions Italy and will give England another tough test.
After their Steve McQueen antics in Cologne, in the last 16, English expectations will be reaffirmed for the match, in Dusseldorf, on Saturday night. The media will, true to form, give this game the usual massive build-up, while we Scots say: “Gie's peace” and turn off in droves. At least, this tournament, we've got another contest - the General Election, to take our minds off the mental turmoil being endured by our southern neighbours.
MEANWHILE, Scotland's traditionally early exit from the tournament proper has probably come as a relief for our media players. They can now relax and concentrate on what they do best, writing fictional pieces, speculating on who are going to be the big-money (by Scottish standards) recruits to the Bigot Brothers.
You don't require a Masters degree in covering Scottish Fitba to know, last season's Rangers squad was one of the least-talented and most over-hyped in the long/short history of the club (depending on where you stand on the issue of dead club v continuation entity).
Manager Philippe Clement as shown one or two over-paid, under-performing players the door and has started the rebuild by bringing-in Liam Kelly from Motherwell, as back-up to Jack Butland, and midfielder Connor Barron from Aberdeen. He has also spent some £9 million, turning Mohamed Diomande's loan deal into a ermanent one, bringing in Moroccan Hamza Igamane and Jefte, a 20-year-old Brazilian left back.
OK, Kelly is Scottish, returning to the club where he was a young Academy prospect, but, with him coming-in, it looks as if Robbie McCrorie will be, like his twin brother Ross, depareting the club for pastures new.
The rumour mill also has skipper James Tavernier on the way out, so the boys with lap tops will surely find enough inspiration over the next few weeks, to get themselves into the mood for the new season – which is actually only a fortnight away.
Across the city, I sense the power brokers at Parkhead have decided they can allow their manager to bring-in just about any shit player and they can still hoover-up the major Scottish prizes.
I still reckon Brendan Rodgers is a lucky more than talented manager. Clement did well, given the players at his disposal, to run Celtic so-close last season, this season, with more of what he would term, his players, he could provide a tougher challenge and that will test Roldgers.
Celtic's biggest problem will be adequately replacing Joe Hart between the sticks. Mind you, given the paucity of the domestic opposition, I don't see that they need to buy-in. The goalkeepers they already have, in particular Scottish internationalist Scott Bain, strike me as being adquate for their needs, even in Europe.
For me, the best thing both clubs' managers could do this close season is, take themselves along to Scotstoun for a word with Glasgow Warriors's Head Coach Franco Smith, who could give them pointers on how to bring through young Scottish players, integrate them into a first team squad and, at the same time build a tight-knit squad culture, operate a good rotation policy to keep players fresh and, at the end of the season, win big.
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